PCB awaits confirmation from CWI on T20 series

KARACHI, Pakistan, CMC – The Pakistan Cricket Board is waiting on Cricket West Indies (CWI) to approve a draft itinerary, so the highly anticipated three-match Twenty20 International tour next month can go ahead.

Media reports here yesterday said the PCB had sent the proposed itinerary to CWI and were hoping to get the green light sometime next week. “We are hoping for a reply from them by Wednesday,” Geo.tv quoted an unnamed source, close to the discussions, as saying. CWI announced last August that it was “advancing discussions” with the PCB on staging the series here in late November.

However, the Caribbean board said at the time the series would be subject to the “safe conclusion” of three match series between Pakistan and the ICC World XI in Lahore last September and “affirmation of manageable security” by the ICC-sponsored international security company.

According to other media reports here, CWI is also hoping for a return series once West Indies undertake the three-match tour as planned. “We have told them what is possible for us and they’ve informed us that they’ll reply next week, probably on Wednesday,” the source said.

Once the series takes place, it will mark the first time tour of Pakistan by a top tier international side since the terrorist attacks on a Sri Lanka team bus eight years ago, which left several players injured and members of the security forces dead. Since then, Pakistan have been forced to play their home series in United Arab Emirates but have lobbied of recent to have these games restored to Lahore.